Government sets up innovation hub for health sector

A pioneering partnership between private sector companies and the health service to develop groundbreaking Irish healthcare products and research and use them to benefit of Irish patients has been set up by the Government.

The initiative, which builds on a pilot project set up in UCC in 2012, is funded by Enterprise Ireland and will use staff seconded from the HSE.

Innovative Irish healthcare companies will be able to access the health service easily for the first time to test their products and services.

Meanwhile, the health service will have easy access to innovative companies providing solutions to the challenges it faces, making it cheaper and easier to deliver better healthcare to more patients.

The pilot has already supported 23 projects involving 27 companies including an online tool for GPs to monitor the physical activity of patients, scheduling services to improve patient flow, and infection control and hygiene management systems.

Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton said :

“The commitment by Government to a facility such as the Health Innovation Hub also sends out a very strong message to international companies considering investing in Ireland that we are committed to developing even stronger links between the health and enterprise sectors and the high level R&D driving each sector.”

A consortium led by University College Cork, with partners including Cork Institute of Technology, Trinity College Dublin and the National University of Ireland Galway, was appointed following a competitive process at the hub.

A director is to be appointed shortly to guide the project through the next five years.

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